âIn the Nazi death camp of Sobibor in Eastern Poland, knitting saved several Jewish women from deathâ
With the Nazi forces rounding up Jews and anyone else they deemed âunworthyâ, they had en...

Textile historian and weaver Ruth Gilbert is hosting an Early Modern Stocking Study Day on Saturday 24th March 2018, from 10am to 4pm, at the Loft Space, Britannia Mills, Huddersfield www.facebook.com/theloftspaceBritanniaMills/. Ruth is covering the evidence for early knitted stockings and its interpretation as well as knitting techniques, tools and yarn. A must for anyone interested in both the history as well as the practical reproduction of Early Modern knitted stockings.

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Another exciting study day for the calendar. ‘Kitchener Stitch’, the seamless method of grafting the toe that is the joy or bane of many a sock-knitter, is said to have been devised or at least inspired by Herbert Kitchener, British Secretary of State for War from 1914 to 1916, in an attempt to prevent chafing. Whatever the truth of the story, this study day explores the relationship between knitting and wartime and highlights how knitting meant much more than the popular image of women on the home front knitting for the troops.

“Your Country Needs Knitters” Kitchener Stitch Study Day Speakers include Jane Tynan of Central St Martins on ‘Comforting Body and Soul: Knitting in First World War Britain‘ and Maggie Andrews of University of Worcester on ‘”Men went to war and women knitted” : domesticity andÂ crafts on the Home Front in Britain‘. Joyce Meader of The Historic Knit and Barbara Smith of Knitting & Crochet Guild will reprise their papers from the 2014 Knitting History Forum Conference, ‘Knitted Comforts from Crimea to the Modern Day‘ and ‘Useful Work for Anxious Fingers – Knitting & Crochet in the First World War‘ respectively. You can discover more about knitting in wartime from the Crimea to Afghanistan and also browse the Glasgow Women’s Library historical knitting pattern collection. A full programme will posted closer to the event.

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A quick reminder that our next event is only four weeks away. The Knitting & Crochet Guild Trunk Show is on Saturday 21 February 2015, from 1pm to 4pm at the Grosvenor Chapel, South Audley Street, London. There’s more information here.